The family of a 92-year-old widow are fighting to raise awareness and improve standards in a failing care home after her death following a fall.

Dorothy Ward waited more than 12 hours for hospital treatment after injuring herself in a fall at the Newgrove Care Home in New Waltham. Tragically, she died just a few days later.

After her death her family say staff showed no remorse, an investigation found checks on Dorothy had not been carried out and a log falsely reported she was moving around unaided - when she had a broken hip.

Dorothy's family are now calling for a change in the law so that there can be more oversight and regulation covering private care homes.

They want homes that breach care practices to be properly held to account.

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The home was placed in special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in July 2017, as a result of the circumstances surrounding her death.

At the time of the incident Ms Ward alerted the staff at the care home, complaining of pain in her right side, but the team leader subsequently claimed that proper procedure was followed and all appropriate checks were made before deciding not to seek medical advice.

She was left in bed for the remainder of the night with a fractured hip, and was not checked again until 7.15am, 15 minutes after a change of shift, but no observations took place because she was sleeping.

At about 9am the manager and another team member checked, and they called an ambulance because Mrs Ward was complaining of severe right pain in her hip.

But at 10.20am the manager received a call from the ambulance service saying they were busy.

The service had assumed the case was non-urgent due to the delay between the fall and the call for an ambulance, which didn’t arrive until 12.30pm, more than 12-hours after her fall.

At 5pm, staff at the home were informed that Mrs Ward had a fractured hip.

The late, Dorothy Ward, who died aged 92, following a series of failures at the Newgrove House Care Home, New Waltham.

She died at 7.35pm three days later on April 1, after infection took hold and she developed pneumonia.

Following her death, Ms Ward's daughter visited the home complaining that the level of care had been unacceptable, was told by the manager that an ambulance should have been called earlier.

Upon a check of the relevant paperwork regarding hourly checks and Ms Ward's condition, it was found that the correct hourly checks were not carried out, and a false observation was made saying Ms Ward was spotted moving around her room unaided, despite suffering from a broken hip.

An inquiry began into the circumstances of Mrs Ward’s death, two suspended members of staff at Newgrove House failed to attend two “chats” which were part of the investigative process.

The home concluded its investigation on May 5, and took disciplinary action against three members of staff, including the team leader who was referred to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

On May 17, Mrs Ward’s son attended a meeting with the care home’s regional manager, who admitted there was no excuse for the failure to follow proper procedures. He showed posters which said staff should call for an ambulance immediately if a resident was injured or in pain after a fall or accident.

The late, Dorothy Ward, right, who died aged 92, following a series of failures at the Newgrove House Care Home, New Waltham. Pictured with her late mother, Dorothea Taff, as she celebrated her 100th birthday.

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He also said the team leader showed no sympathy or remorse for her failure to carry out her duty, upon learning of Mrs Ward’s death.

The family sought legal advice but rather than pursue a claim for medical negligence wanted to share details of the incident at Newgrove House and raise awareness of the circumstances of the case.

Speaking to the Grimsby Telegraph, Ms Ward's daughter, Vanessa Norton, said: "We want to make people aware about the failures that have gone on around the death of my mother, so that they know that they must ask lots of questions and look at all of the relevant paperwork to establish what has actually happened to their loved ones.

"I never realised the series of failures at the care home, and it wasn't until we demanded to see the proper paperwork that we discovered the many contradictions and misleading information that had been recorded.

"In our case we found that despite the policy in place at the home, hourly checks were not correctly administered to my mother following her fall, and some information had even been recorded saying that she could move around unaided in her room. That would have been impossible for her in that state.

Vanessa Norton holds a picture of her late mother, Dorothy Ward, 92, who died following a series of failures at the Newgrove House Care Home, New Waltham.

"The staff that did check her, on more than one occasion, didn't follow the home's policy in ringing an ambulance after the fall, and because of this when one was eventually called it was not deemed to be urgent.

"It is because of this wait that we believe her condition deteriorated at such a degree, because before her fall all the evidence suggests that physically she was fit and well."

Ms Norton has also expressed her frustration that further action could not be taken against the care home, feeling that if something like this had happened at a nursery for children there would be "graver consequences".

She continued: "I have worked with children for the past 18 years, and if something like this happened at a nursery or school there would be far graver consequences for everyone involved.

"As a family we are not bothered about receiving financial compensation, we just want to see some real consequences.

"The staff involved could now go on to work with other vulnerable patients, which could lead to others suffering failures in the future."

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Danielle Barney, Solicitor and Partner at Bridge McFarland Solicitors, Wellowgate said: "This was a terrible ordeal for Mrs Ward’s family and the investigation which followed found clear failings in the level of care provided by the home.

"Action was taken against the staff involved on this occasion but the case raises some disturbing questions about the quality of care at Newgrove House, which awaits re-inspection following its rating as inadequate.

“It is hoped that the experience of Mrs Ward and the persistence of her family will encourage other patients and their families to highlight and report any concerns they may have about treatment standards in any care homes or healthcare setting.”

The Newgrove House Care Home is run by Dryband One LTD, and a spokesperson has said that the company carried out a full investigation following Ms Ward's death.

They said: "Due to the incident involving Mrs. Dorothy Ward being in the hands of the company legal team I am unable to comment other than to state that the company carried out a full investigation into the incident and that the staff members who were involved went through the company disciplinary process and are no longer employed at Newgrove House Care Home, the home also made referrals to the appropriate authorities.

"The home now has a new management team in place and new policy and procedures."

Newgrove House was placed into special measures in August 2017 following a Care Quality Commission inspection that found the quality of the home's care to be inadequate.

Newgrove House Care Home, in Station Road, New Waltham.

The detailed report explains that people were left "exposed to avoidable risks" because steps had not always been taken to assess and mitigate risks to people's health and safety.

It said: "The service was not consistently safe.

"We found there were times when there were insufficient staff deployed to meet people's needs.

"People had care plans in place, however, we found these were not always person-centred and missed important information regarding how staff were to care for them.

"The care plans were not always updated when people's needs changed. This meant that important care could be missed.

"Risks to people's health and safety were not always assessed or well managed.

"There had been inconsistent application of mental capacity legislation, which meant best practice guidelines had not always been followed when people lacked capacity to make their own decisions.

"The quality assurance systems were not robust in detecting issues and bringing about improvements."

Following this inspection, another was due to take place six months later, and the CQC have said that a report is "imminent".